A Life Lost
by Awesome Rapidash
Summary: This is my entry for the Village Square writing contest. This month's theme is Loss. Though he tried his best, in the end Jack ends up losing everything. Please read and review!


_A/N: This is my entry for the Village Square writing contest. This month's theme is Loss. Though he tried his best, in the end Jack ends up losing everything. _

_**A Life Lost**_

The rumble of distant thunder and the hammering of rain pelting the roof of his farmhouse pulled Jack out of another troubled night of sleep and back into reality. The brown haired farmer groaned loudly as he rolled to his left and looked at the clock on the nightstand.

"Six o'clock… damn," he muttered as he pushed the soft down filled comforter away. A momentary shiver racked his frame as the cool morning air caressed his skin. Pushing himself up, he walked over to the small wooden dresser in the corner of the room and pulled the top drawer open. A sigh escaped the man's lips as he reached in and removed a light blue tee shirt. Without much thought he dropped the shirt onto the top of the dresser and opened the next drawer down. This time he removed a worn pair of blue jean overalls and added them to the shirt on top of the dresser. After a quick shower, Jack almost robotically dressed himself and went through the remainder of his morning routine.

_**XOXO**_

By midmorning the rain had tapered off to light drizzle, leaving the valley and Jack's farm shrouded in a cold damp fog. Jack sipped the last of his coffee and set the cup down on the table. He paused for a moment and looked around the silent farmhouse. _"How had things gone so wrong?"_ he mused to himself. Without much emotion, he pushed himself away from the table and walked towards the front door, opening it and stepping out into the cold dampness.

He took a moment and looked around; the gloomy day only dampening his spirit further. Rocks littered his fields and tall clumps of weeds grew unabated, choking the remaining life out of the once fertile soil. He trudged his way through the thick gooey mud over to the nearest plot. He had tried everything possible to get his withering crops to grow. But nothing, not even daily prayer and gifts to the Harvest Goddess had seemed to have any affect! In desperation he'd even given some thought to asking the Witch Princess to concoct some form of a vitality potion. Yet in the end he just gave up, relegating himself to the fact that growing vegetables and the like was just not his cup of tea.

Instead he had tried to focus on raising his animals. And for a time it appeared to be working. He used what remaining money he had in reserve to purchase two cows, two sheep along with six chickens. However, since he was not growing his own fodder or corn, he had to rely solely on purchased feed for his animals. That choice was by no means cheap and was quickly drying up what little money that was coming in.

The breaking point came near the end of summer when two of his cows had become ill. Realizing that he didn't have the money to purchase the medicine he desperately needed to save them, he'd asked if he could make the purchases on credit, which Barley had allowed. Sadly by the time he was able to administer the medicine it was too late. Anna passed away the next day and Clarabelle two days after her sister. This loss devastated the farmer, not only emotionally, but financially as well.

But it wasn't only the failures with his farm that had lead up to this point; no it went so much deeper… to failures of the heart.

_**XOXO**_

Shortly after arriving in Forget Me Not Valley Jack had befriended most of the small town's inhabitants and was usually greeted warmly when he passed them by. But none more so than the bubbly blond haired woman who worked as a hostess for the Blue Bar. To him Muffy was a sweet and warm woman and he quickly took a liking to her. To Muffy, Jack was charming and fun to be with. Within a season of his arrival it was agreed among most of the locals that they were an official couple.

At first Jack strictly abstained from alcohol, preferring only water or juice. This appealed to Muffy and helped to cement their relationship. But as times became increasingly more difficult, the young farmer found himself turning away from water and juice... to something with a bit more of an edge. This concerned his girlfriend as she'd seen many men consumed and destroyed by overindulgence.

Jack tried to justify his drinking by telling her that he needed a way to calm himself after a long day of work and at first Muffy seemed to accept that. But as time went on, his drinking became worse. It pinnacled one warm summer night when after another poor day on the farm Jack entered the drinking establishment and began to consume drink after drink like there was going to be no tomorrow.

After his fourth beverage Muffy tried to intervene, pleading with her boyfriend to stop his destructive behavior! But Jack was in no mood to be told what to do and in an instant he jumped up and grabbed the shocked hostess by her slender shoulders, shaking her violently before pushing her roughly to the floor. Griffin and Marlin quickly stepped over and tried to subdue the intoxicated farmer and asked him to leave. But once again Jack was in no mood to be told anything. Instead he reared his right arm back and before anyone could stop him, cold cocked Griffin square in the face.

What happened next was lost in an alcohol induced haze. All he could remember was that the following morning he'd awakened sprawled out in the dirt across from the pathway that led to the entrance of the bar and that his ribs hurt him terribly. It wouldn't be until later in the day when he went to Dr. Hardy that he would find out why.

Talk of the events that evening spread like a wind driven wildfire through the valley. And before Jack had even a chance to try and make amends, he found himself all but exiled by the townspeople. Taunting jeers of "_drunken fool_" or "_woman beater_" now resonated in his ears as he passed through the small village.

His relationship with Muffy quickly soured as well. On numerous occasions after that day he'd attempted to visit with Muffy, to ask her to forgive him. But she'd have nothing more to do with him and refused every time. Stubbornly Jack had ignored her requests to leave her alone and continued to pursue the cute hostess. Finally about a week later Griffin had enough and intervened. He grabbed the surprised farmer by the collar with both hands and basically hissed at him angrily that if he caught him near Muffy again, it would take more than Dr. Hardy's expertise to put him back together! Needless to say that any further attempts to woo another of the valley's eligible bachelorettes was met with icy stares and harsh rejection.

_**XOXO**_

Jack shivered slightly as the cold dampness permeated his clothing. With another shiver, he turned and walked towards the faded and falling down remnants of the barn. He pulled the wooden door open and walked inside. Once again nothing but silence filled his ears as he walked over to one of the empty stalls and took a seat on a pile of debris.

_**XOXO**_

Shortly after the incident at the bar Jack found that he could no longer get any credit to purchase food or the supplies he needed to sustain operations on the farm. In fact, both Jeff, who ran the supermarket over in Mineral Town and Barley began to demand that he immediately pay off what he owed them! With no crops to harvest and little in the way of other income, the brown haired farmer had no choice but to sell off his remaining animals to cover his mounting debts. That was all it took to drive the final nail into the coffin that was once his farm.

_**XOXO**_

The sound of rain hitting the roof of the barn brought Jack back to reality. Pushing himself up the farmer dusted off his gloved hands and walked over to the open doorway, looking outside at the steel gray clouds covering the sky. He then looked down and watched as small rivers of muddy water flowed past him on their way to a large murky pool growing next to the dilapidated wooden structure that was once his chicken coop. With little thought he stepped out into the downpour and walked sullenly back to the farmhouse. He pushed the wooden door open and walked in. Inside he headed straight over to the bedroom, not bothering to worry about the muddy footprints that he was leaving behind.

In the bedroom he walked over to the bed and picked up a large brown colored suitcase. He then turned and without a further thought headed back out of the room and over to the front door. With one last momentary glance, he opened the door and headed out into the cold rain.

After passing through the farm's entrance one last time, he turned and closed the faded white wooden gate. After latching it and making sure that it was securely closed he pivoted and quickly headed down the damp pathway in the direction of the dock. He was grateful that it was raining for two reasons. The first was that it would insure that the pathway would be all but deserted. Second was that if anyone did pass him by the rain would mask the tears streaming down his face.

As expected the dock was empty and in Jack's mind that seemed to exemplify his life in the valley, a seemingly perfect way to end this fiasco. The former farmer set his suitcase on the bench near the end of the damp wooden dock and surveyed the churning ocean in front of him. He stood there for several more moments… looking off into the distant horizon and listening as the winds cold shrill seemed to beckon him forward. Standing on the edge of the dock he closed his eyes and listened again as the howling wind seemed to call to him…

Without a single word he leapt into the cold ocean water and began to swim as hard and as fast as he could… to escape from the life he'd lost in Forget Me Not Valley. The call of a distant seagull was the last thing he heard before his head disappeared forever beneath the waves.


End file.
